No Around the Bases this week. Why? Here's the Sunday scoreboard from the SEC's officially daily baseball release:
Miami 16, Florida 2
Georgia 10, Arizona 5
Kentucky 10, Western Michigan 5
LSU 16, Central Florida 0
Vanderbilt 14, Vermont 1
Mississippi State 9, Nicholls 0 (Nicholls forfeited)
Tennessee vs. Florida International, cancelled
Clemson at South Carolina, cancelled
Florida State at Auburn, cancelled
TCU at Ole Miss, cancelled
Western Illinois at Arkansas, cancelled
Illinois-Chicago at Alabama, cancelled
When half of Sunday's games are scratched, it's hard to make a full post about the weekend that was. Alabama also had to cancel it's Saturday game. The bullet points of the weekend: Florida got swept by Miami and looked bad doing it, Georgia swept Arizona and LSU won its three games against Central Florida by the combined score of 40-6. And we had a headline you are unlikely to ever see again:
Sunday’s Auburn-Florida State Baseball Game Cancelled Due To Snow
No, you're reading that correctly. Snow. In Auburn. I'll wait for Alabama fans to finish making jokes about Hell freezing over.
And, let's take a serious look at this. With the possible exceptions of Miami-Florida and South Carolina-Clemson, there weren't any match-ups that made you go, "Oooh" even before the snow and rain took over.
The SEC East race rolls to a finish. Because someone has to win the division -- right? -- Rocky Top Talk gives us a look at the key games for the E1 slot in the SEC tournament.
It should come down to Thursday's game between the Vols and South Carolina. But, then again, if the winner fails to win games against respective underdogs Alabama and Georgia, then things could get interesting. Is there actually a way no one can win the divison?
Not that many people will be watching. Being one of the top teams in the tourney could actually prompt schools to sell their ticket books -- something that's proving problematic.
In years past, schools would rely on demand from fans at other schools, particularly those with winning seasons or strong tradition. But apparently not this year. "This is a weak economy, and overall, the conference in general having just one team in the Top 25 (LSU), that has curbed enthusiasm some," said King, whose school has about 400 tickets. "We're all struggling a little bit." President Obama, it's time for an SEC tournament bailout. You could lock up the Sou-- Never mind. We're talking about basketball. Now, if you could find someone to bailout football, there might be some electoral votes in it.
The Soft Bigotry of High Expectations -- or, Know When to Fold Them. Kentucky fans are about giving up on making anything out of their basketball season, prompting Tru at ASOB to ruminate on the state of the Big Blue Nation and how these here Interwebs have changed sports. I can't do justice in a block quote, so go read it.
It's no wonder that Kentucky fans are being so thoughtful -- after all, things have gotten so bad that one of the Cats' players temporarily quit after the South Carolina debacle. But cheer up, Cat fans -- South Carolina had its own debacle Saturday, so it's all even, right?
Also done: Florida. So concludes Orange and Blue Hue, which also sees foreboding fallout for the once unstoppable Gators.
Nick Calathes may very well decide to use his outstanding individual season as leverage to declare for the NBA. Walter Hodge, the last remnant of both national championship squads, is graduating. The impending senior leader is known for shooting a lot of bricks. And, as scary a thought as it sounds, Billy Donovan could very well begin to feel just a tiny bit of warmth in his seat. Maybe Orlando would take him back ...
Waterboarding, maybe? I don't know about you, but hearing the Gypsy Coach of the South paraphrased as saying someone "would be disciplined" almost sounds Stalinist. Oh, c'mon, like you've never pictured Bobby Petrino putting misbehaving players in the Gulag.
Apparently, Ed Orgeron is up to his old tricks again. Coaches, taking off shirts. The Tennessee football program has officially become the world's most expensive frat party.